Loading and unloading apparatus for vehicles



Jan. 11, 1949. G. H. PRIDE 2,459,045

' ,LOADI'NG AND UNLOADING APPggmws FOR VEHICLES Filed A rirzs, 1947 s-sn i's-sneet 1 5 1 IN VEN TOR.

Jan. 11, 1949. PR|DE LOADING AND UNLOADING' APPARATUS FOR VEHICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1947 INVENTOR.

SW65 PRIDE G. H. PRIDE LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS FOR vmucms Filed April 25, 1947 Jan. 11, 1949.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 55 Z k- L l INVENTOR. GEO/P65 MFR/0E Patented Jan. 11, 1949 LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLES George H. Pride, New York, N. Y. Application April 25, 1947, Serial No. 743,937

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in loading and unloading apparatus for vehicles and more particularly relates to means for stripping a pallet upon which a load unit has rested during transit, from beneath that load unit so that the latter, without the pallet, may be delivered from the vehicle to a receiver.

The present invention is in the nature .of an improvement upon the apparatus described in my co-pending application, Serial No. 547,216, filed July 29, 1944, now Patent No. 2,421,128, granted May 27, 1947. The said co-pending application disclosed a mechanism for use in loading and unloading vehicles and more particularly road vehicles such as automobile trucks or trailers. That mechanism included a plurality of separate, relatively thin floor plates or pallets which served as floor plates, each of a suitable size for carrying a stacked load unit of goods as, for example, a stack of material packed in cartons or a stack of sheet metal or paper, or a stack of goods such as sugar or flour put up in bags. The separate floor plates or pallets were independently movable horizontally into or out of the body of the vehicle with a load unit thereon; and the truck structure also included. a cable mechanism which, in one arrangement, could be employed to pull a floor plate or pallet and its load into the body of the truck, and in another arrangement, could be employed to pull such a floor plate or pallet and its load from within the truck to a supporting surface at the exterior thereof.

In a loading operation, each floor plate, according to the disclosure of said application, would be disposed in turn upon the tail gate of the vehicle and then receive thereon a stack of goods constituting a load unit. Then, after assuring that the tail gate was at a proper height, the floor plate or pallet and its load unit would be pulled by the mentioned cable mechanism into the body of the vehicle. The several floor plates or pallets would each be loaded and moved s'ep arately into the vehicle body in this manner until the truck was fully loaded or until the entire shipment to be moved had been disposed within the truck body. p

At the point of destination each floor plate or pallet and its load would be moved separately by the cable mechanism from its position within the vehicle out onto a skid on the tail gate. At this stage of operations the floor plate or pallet would be stripped from beneath its load unit so that the floor plate or pallet could remain with the vehicle and the load could be delivered to the receiver in its stacked form. In order to do this without tipping or in any way deforming or breaking up the load unit, an abutment bar was placed at a level slightly above the floor plate or pallet and between the lower portion of the load unit and the rear, faces of the uprights defining the doorway of the vehicle. The abutment bar, as thus positioned served to prevent material forward movement of the load unit, and the skid was suitably restrained against forward movement while the cable arrangement was employed to pull the floor plate or pallet forcibly forwardly from beneath the load unit. As the floor plate or pallet was relatively thin this stripping operation would not materially tip, deform or break up the load unit.

Although the apparatus as described in my said copending application has proven in actual use to be very eifective in saving time and expense in the loading and unloading of such vehicles, nevertheless there were certain respects in which it seemed open to improvement. The mentioned abutment bar, according to my said application, could be a stout length of lumber, but in practice it was found that a piece of lumber stout enough for the purpose was quite large and heavy and that it was better to provide an abutment bar of metal of suitable design to enable it to withstand the very substantial bending stresses applied thereto in such an arrangement. In any event, the abutment bar was necessarily quite cumbersome and had to be placed in position and later removed therefrom manually and also constituted a separate element to be carried at all times with the vehicle.

Also, in my said co-pending application no special provisions were shown for accommodating one or several empty floor plates or pallets while another floor plate or pallet with a load thereon was being moved into or out of the vehicle body by the cable arrangement.

An important object of this invention is the provisionof improved means for stripping a floor plate or. pallet from beneath a load unit thereon without materially tipping, deforming or breaking up said load unit.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an abutment bar and means in a vehicle for carrying said abutment bar in an inactive'position in which it does not interfere in any way with the horizontal movement of a floor plate or pallet and a load unit thereon either into or out of the vehicle body,

Another object of this invention is the provision of mechanical means for moving said abutsion of an elevatable tail gate for a vehicle, with.

improved means for angularly moving the tail gate from a horizontal or open position to a substantially vertical or closed position.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention should be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of this invention.

In the drawings: 1

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the rear end of a vehicle embodying a preferred form of the present invention, portions being broken away to make visible myimproved abutment bar and portions of means for operating the latter.

Fig. 2 'is a longitudinal sectional'view of the rear end of such a vehicle substantially on the line2-2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. .3 is a rear elevational view of the lower portion of the body of such a vehicle, the tailgate being omitted to show other parts more clearly.

Fig. 4 is an enlargementof a portion of the structure shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an illustrative form of abutment bar, this bar being of the form shown in the other figures. i

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the tailgate, substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, showing pallet stowing racks on the under side of the tailgate and several empty pallets therein.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the means for closing and opening the tailgate. i a Except for improvements hereinafter described, a vehicle embodying the present invention may be substantially as disclosed in my said co-pending application. Thus it may comprise a body II (the rear only of which is shown in the present drawings), an elevatable tailgate I2, a plurality of floor plates or pallets 13 supported in abutting end to end relationship in a longitudinal series within the body ll upon a plurality of rollers 14 which either may be carried directly within the bottom structure of the body H or may constitute parts of conveyers l5 disposed longitudinally of the truck and supported therein by the mentioned bottom portion of the truck body. Power actuated cables H5 at opposite sides of the truck body (only one beingshown in th drawings) working about sheaves l1 and I8 are connected to a vertically slidable shoe I9 for raising and lowering the latter and the tailgate 12 carried thereby; and power actuated cables at each side of the truck body (only one being shown in the drawings) adjustable about sheaves 2!, 22 and 24, are provided for connection at their ends to the pallets 3 for moving the latter with loads thereon horizontally into the body of the vehicle from the tailgate or vice versa.

The present invention involves improvements relating to a mechanically actuated abutment bar, convenient stowing means for the temporary disposal of empty pallets. l3 while loaded pallets are being moved into or out of the vehicle, and improved operating means for opening and closing the tailgate. As should be clear from the hereinafter described operations, these features all work together to effect substantial savings of labor, time and expense in loading and unloading a vehicle.

Referring first to the mentioned mechanically actuated abutment bar, such a bar, identified as 25, is preferably an elongated bar of strong metal such as steel capable of withstanding severe bending stresses, and extends substantially completely across the inner width of the vehicle body H, as best understood from Figs. 1 and 3. The abutment bar 25, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, is shown a being substantially square in cross-section and hollow.

The abutment bar 25 may rest, in an inactive position, within the angle of a transverse angle bar 26 which constitutes a fixed or integral portion of the bottom of the body ll. As best seen in Figs. 2 and 4, the abutment bar, when in such inactive position as shown in full lines in said figures, has its uppermost surface somewhat lower than the upper surfaces of the rollers l4, so that a pallet i3, with a load thereon, may freely move horizontally, between a position on said rollers within the truck body and a position on a skid 21 on the tailgate l2 without any interference from the said abutment bar.

The abutment bar 25 is slidable upwardly and downwardly along an angular path between its said inactive position. and an active position indicated in broken lines in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, the said bar, for this purpose being provided at its opposite ends with shoes 29, welded or otherwise fixed thereupon in similar angular positions, and arranged to slide in and be guided in guideways 30 formed, at the angle of the intended path of abutment bar movement, in reinforcing plates 3| provided at opposite inner sides of a doorway 32 of the vehicle body.

Mechanical means for moving the abutment bar 25 'up and down in said g-uideways comprise a pair of racks 33, slidably guided within guidesleeves 34 welded or otherwise suitably fixed to the'under side of the angle bar 26, the said racks extending through said guide-sleeves and suitable openings 35 in the bar 26 substantially in parallelism with the guideways 39. The racks 33 have their upper ends abutting but not connected to the underside of the abutment bar 25.

The racks 33 may be moved up and down by pinions 36 driven by any suitable motive means. As illustrated herein the pinions 36 are keyed upon a cross-shaft 31 which is driven by a reversible electric motor 38 through a pinion 39 keyed on th shaft of said motor and reduction gears 40, 4! as may best be understood from Fig. 4. A suitable brake 31a (Fig. 3), is arranged to apply a continuous braking effect upon the cross-shaft 31 to enable the racks 33 to hold up the abutment bar 25, even when the motor 38 is stopped. The mentioned rack-driving mechanism, of course, is suitably carried by the body i I of the vehicle.

As the space below the abutment bar must be clear when the latter is in its raised or active position in order to permit a pallet l3 to be pulled forwardly through said space to strip it from beneath a load unit resting upon a skid 21 on the tailgate, I provide means for supporting the abutment bar in its active position, independently of the racks 33 so that the latter may be loweredto provide such a clear space.

' The mentioned abutment bar supporting means 7 otherwise suitably secured to the tailgate. 3

ebiri'prisesa manually s'lidable latch "z' wififil'flf a horizontally extending retaining and guiding uideway43 formed in the plates-i and inters'cting' the'g-uideway 30'; For convenience of manipulation the latch 42 may have-aa ipwer'd 5 extension 44 at its forward end. The latch 41 is shown in its non-supporting position in; u'lllines in- Fig. 4 and,- when thabutnient ha is in ors'lig'htly above its active position asshown insaid figure" in broken lines, tlielatch 42* may he slid rearwardl'y', manually to its suppo ng' position as shown in broken line's-in said figure.

the Iattenpo'sitionit is disposed underneath and directly in the path of the shoe 29-sof1that when the racks 33 are lowered-,- the latch 42 'o*-' aeiswith the shoe is to hold thejabutrnnt r 25 up iii-its active position. Si-milar'latoh at: rangements', as described,- preferably are provided ateach side of the vehicle for" supporting the abutment-barat both its ends. i

A's-best shown in Figs. 1,- 2, 4 and; 6, means for sto'wing empty pallets 13 comprise a s'tcil' vingrack 45- fixed to the outer or under side ofthe tailgate l2. This stowing rack willnow be 'described as viewed with the tailgate in its active 5 or horizontal attitude as shown in the drawings? The stowing rack 45 may consist of a plurality of ledges which may be in the form of inwardly extending horizontal flanges 46 of metal angle bars: 41 supported in spaced superposed lol'lgi tudinally-extending positions at opposite sides of the underside of the tailgate" by hangers 48 suitably fixed at their upper ends to thetail-L gate as by angle-brackets 49, riveted, bolted, 'or

though the hangers 48 strongly oppose spread-r ingapart of opposed angle bars :41 at oppositesides of the tailgate, nevertheless any such spreading tendency may be additionally opposed by a crossbar 50 (or morethan one if. desired): suitably fixed at its ends,- to the opposed rear most hangers 48. 1 i r In order not to complicate other figures show ing the pallet stowingrack 45, pallets are shown} associated with said rack only" in Fig. 6,:fro1'n whichit may be seen that although the pellets may sag somewhat when inthe ,stowing. rack,- the flanges 46 are made wide enough-tomaintain an adequate supporting engagement with-op posite sides of the pallets I 3 in said rack. It. may also be observed from Fig. 1 that the hangers 48 are short angle bars and that the rearmost. of these hangers are disposed with oneflange thereof extending inwardly to form a stop: limit ing rearward sliding of the pallets l31inthe: stowing rack. The other hangers 48' eachhave eri'e' flange in face to face contact with and fixed to the vertical flanges of the angle bars 41 and the other .flanges of said hangers extend outwardly.

Although it is not essential to provide a cross member interconnecting the opposedfront ends of the angle bars 4'! at opposite sides ofthetailgate, such a cross member .5l may be: provided, as best seen in Figs. 2, 4 and 6, at a lower-levelthana pallet resting, with some sag, uponthe loweifhiost flanges 46. To make it possibleto carry one or more empty pallets l3 inthe rack 45 in transit, as where only a partial vehicle load isbei'ng transported, suitable means suchas pins 52 extending through holes 53 in the forward: most hangers48 may engage the forward ends of empty'pallets' l3 in the stowing-rack to support such pallets when the tailgate is in its closed orvertical position as" it normally wbuldbewhgeh;

the vehicle-is moving iii trah's'it. such support: ihg means, however; are not essential for all empty plates may be carried within the vehicle that" tnetailgate I2 is verticall movable.

H As best understood from Figs; 1 and 2, the ta lgate; l2 ispivoted at its forward end to lugs 54- ihte raiwith the lower ends of tailgate shoes I'llnd, when the tailgate is open, it is held in hll zdrital POSifiidfi by 0119111555 01 their equiv alent connected to the rearward end of the tailgateg asjat 56, and to lugs STi-ntegraI withthe upper eiiclsofthe-shoe i9. 'r 'e'latte'r; of chais af'su'itably fes'tfaifid against any materialen gulal'- 'i-' novement-*relatively to the vehicle body The present invention includes hovel rne'ans for closing and opening the tailgate '|2, i.-e., for moving it angularly between its horizontal or operrposltlon and its vertical or closed position. Such means are illustrated structurally in Figs. 1 and 2'-,a'n'd diagrammatically in Fig. 7, and comprise a pair of cables 58' or their. equivalent suitably hired at their upper ends to the upper rear of the,,body H as at-J59 and having fixed to their lower ends blocks 60 with integral horizontally extending pins 6| adapted to be inserted manuallyin holes .62 (only one being" shown in the drawings) in opposite sides of thetailgate I2. The approximate length of the cables 58 andthe approximate position of the holes 62 are indicated in the drawing, and these character'- istics should be such as to yield the following operation of the tailgate; i

Assuming thatth'e tailgate I2 is in its horizontal or open-position substantially at. the level r the bottom of theibody ll, in which position it is shown in full lines in Fig. 7, also that the cable-; l6 isactuated' by an electric-motor (not shown) and that it is desired to move the tailgate clockwisely toclose it; the operator first operates the controls of said electric motor to cause the cable ii to pull the shoe 1'9 and thetailgate l2 upwardlywhile the latter remains in its horizontalattitude. When the tailgate is elevated almost to its highest possible position, the electric. motor is shut off and the ta-ilgate is held in that elevated position either, by the reductiongeari'ng' of said motor or a suitable brake or other hold-up means, noneof which appearflin the drawings. v

When the'tailgate I2Yis in the mentionedelevated position, the operator inserts the pins 6 o'f'bdtncables 58"into the holes 52 at opposite sides" of the tailgate, then starts the tailgateelevati'ng' electric motor erev'ersely to its former operation to lower the shoes l9. During the latter's' descent, the cables 58 becolne taut and thereafter prevent the tailgate from contihuingdownwardlyinhorizontal attitude while the shoes [9, nevertheless, continue'todescend. This lowers the pivotal point-0f the tailgate at the lugs 54 wherefore the tailgate pursues a clockwise movemerit; as viewed iri'the drawings, until it reaches a-vertical or closed position, when the mentioned electric illOtOl is stopped. In Fig.- 7 the tailgate iss'hown in broken lines almost inits" mentioned closed position. The tailgate may b'elatchecl in its said closedposition by any suitable means (notshown) and also, after the tailgate is'latch'ed closed thetailga-temay be raised slightly and' themsli table supporting pins or brackets (not operation will now be described;

- To open the tailgate, it is firstunlatched from its closed position,- then-thementioned electric motor is 1 caused to raise the shoe; 19, during which movement the tailgate moves,,counterclockwisely until the chains55 assumethel weight of the tail-.

gate andthe cables 58become slack. Then the said electric-moton1is;stppp.ed and the pinsyfil removed from the holes 62 after which the tail-1 gate, remaining in its horizontal attitude may be lowered or raised as necessary inv the loading orunloading ofthevehicle.-- 1

order to. make clear the operation of the disclosed, apparatus, and more. particularly; to point out the nature- ,of the-.oOaction between the component parts of apparatusraccordinggto this invention, a complete loading and unloading It may ;first .be assumedJthatthe-disclosed vehicle,- empty and with emptypallets l3 disposed likea flooring withinthe vehicle body,L-and:the tailgate closed has been ba'ckedtoa loading point which may? be a shipping "platform, or sidewalk, etc. iTheoperatorfirst inserts the-cable pins 6t into thehoIes-GZ of-the. tail'gate,='=then elevates the sh0es.l9,*'vvhi1e'the tailgate 12 .turns to a horizontal position, until the ohainsl-55 assume the weight of the tailgatez 'l hemthe .pins

6| are :pulled out of the holes .52 andthe' 'cables SBpermittedto hangfreely.-

--'I'he'operator then lowers the'tailgate to a point atwhich th e bottom-of the stowing rack 45 1s at a slightly lower lever than the pallets l3 die-the vehicle body.- Thentwo operators one 'at each side of the tailgate, slide alI butone of-the 'empty pallets into the #stowing raclg makingslight readjustments; if ie'sir ed, 1 in the tailg'at'e and stow: ing' 'rack leve1 as each pallet is handled; Theri the tailgate is lowered until its top -sur face; is substantially at the level of the pallet l-3 remain-' ing withinthe'truck body and then the two operators slide that pallet onto the tailgate. At this time it is not of'any particular advantage to' have askid under the pallet. j- The pallet 13 on the tailgate isfthen f-loafded with a stack of goods and the-cablesfill fastened to' the rearward end of the pallet-l3 *as'show'ri" in irregular broken lines in FigJ-Z'; Thecables'jzil are then'taken up by their power flmeans; pulling the pallet i3 and its'load into the vehicleftowardthe rear thereof with'the pallet in its broken li' '1" indicated position supported upon rollersIQH. Thenthe operators detach the cable from the pallet and manually push or roll the'pal letf'and its load to the front end of the body I FWhereit may be anchored against further rolling by; any suitable means (notshown). r j Thenthe tailgate'is raised sufficiently toferiable a second .pallet I3 tobe slid from thestowing, rack 45 into the body H. Thentheitailgateis lowered until its top surface'is substantially at the level of said second pallet and the-latter-is slid onto the tailgate and loaded and moved into the vehicle body substantially into abutting relation with the mentioned first'pallet and likewise an chored in place. The'same procedureis then followed in rendering available, loading; andmoving the remaining pallets I3-into the vehicle body. In somesituations, the powered cables may be employed to pull the first pallet and its lOad'entirely to the front end of the vehicle or to pull a second or other pallet with its loadforwardly 8 into abutment with? v a pallet already positioned inthevehicle. 1'; "1'; I

Afterall pallets are loaded and inthe vehicle, the tailgate llmay beclosed and prepared for transit in ,the manner already described. It the entireload to betransported requires theme of less than all; the pellets l3, those not used may be carried either in the vehicle body or in the;stowingrack 45 if suitably retained inthe latter in the manner already described; Qi course, the load should be suitably dunnaged within-the body H to prevent materialshifting of the load in transit. At thedeliverypoint the tailgate 12 is openedin the, manner; already described and a skid 21, which may be one used by the receiver of the oods in his plant, is placed upon the tailgate and securedthereto against any material backward ,or forward movement, by any suitable means, as, for example,-: by pins 63 which may extend through suitableholes provided therefor in thetailgate. llhe tailgate is then either raised or lowered, as necessary, to bring the upper face, of the skid 21 to: a level -justbelow that of the bottom surface of the rearmost-pallet l3 and, after removinga-ny anchoring means which were employed. toqanchor-that pallet, the-cables 20 or suitable extensions provided thereon are: reeved about thegsheaves 24 carried upon'the rear end of the tailgate 12 in the manner. shown in regularebrokemlines in ;Fig.=2 and the-free ends of said'cablesorof. their extensions are then conneoteduto. the rear end of thepallet l3. Then power is applied to the cables '20 causing the latter to, pull the pallet :with its 4 load from its positi'on Within the body onto the skid 2'I-on the tailgate, after-which. the icables :20 or -their'-'extensions are :disconnected fromtherear end ofthe pallet L Iga v1. I, V I IL: "The abutmen't bar 25.is =then.;raised to itsaotiv'e positionzby suitable operation ofthe electric mo tor. 38, and the latches 42 are pushed rearwardly to assume the weight of the abutment bar. -"Then; by: reverseroperation of the motor 38. the racks 33 are lowere'drto 'clear the' space beneath the abutment"bar," after"which the free endsjoi the cablest20 'ar'jpass'e'd beneatHthe abutment bar and atta'ohed' to the forward end of the pallet I3. Then power-*is 'again applied to the cables 2]! whioh caus-es'the pal-let I3'to be iorc'efully'pulle'd forwardly while the skid 21 is held against material :for'ward movementby-the pins; 63; and the load unit is heldagainst material forward move;- ment by the abutment bar 25. This forward movement ofthe pallet"! 3'whiletheloa'd unit and the skid' are thus restrained has the effect of stripping the pallet 13 from beneath the load which'it formerly carried and pulling said pallet into the'vehiclebody, As thepalletsare prefere ably formedof thin material such as sheet metal, a load unit does nottip or become deformed or disorganized to any'material extentby' this strippin'g operation and are left intact upon there";

ceivers skid. 1 V I t Then; the load unit on the skid 21 may be removed -from' the tailgate I2 by any suitable meangas for exampla bya lift truck' such' as the receiver ma'yjernploy in shifting loads inand about his premises. Forthis purpose, the tail gate I 2 maybe raised or lowered as desired to facilitate the removal'of the skid 21 and its load from the tailgate by such a lift truck. I

The motor 3815 then operated again to raise the racks-33- into contact withthe abutment bar 25 and to flift the latterslightly' to permit the latches? to be moved'forwardly to their n'0n supporting positions, whereafter the said motor may be reversely operated to lower the abutment bar to its inactive position. Although the lowering of the abutment bar has just been described as following the removal of the skid and its load unit from the tailgate, nevertheless it should be understood that the described lowering of the abutment bar may take place before the load unit has been removed from the tailgate.

After removal of the first load unit and its skid from the tailgate, the latter is elevated to bring the bottom of the stowing rack 45 just below the level of the just-emptied pallet It in the truck and then two operators, one at each side of the tailgate, may slide the said pallet into the stowing rack. Then another skid 21 is suitably pinned to the tailgate l2 to receive a second pallet with its load unit. After being certain that the tailgate is lowered to bring the top surface of that skid just below the top surfaces of the rollers I4, the said second pallet l3, shown in part in Fig. 2, is unanchored and, in the manner already described, it, with its load, may be pulled onto the skid on the tailgate by means of the cable mechanism as already explained. The handling of this second pallet and its load and of all other pallets and their loads, in order to move them out of the vehicle and strip their related pallets therefrom, is done in the manner already described with respect to the first or rearmost pallet; and likewise, the stowing of each empty pallet, as necessary to get it out of the way of further unloading operations, is handled in the manner already described. It should be'understood that instead of using a conventional skid 21, as described, to receive a load unit being unloaded onto the tailgate, an ordinary fiat pallet of wood or other suitable material may be provided to receive a load unit from a floor plate.

After the vehicle is completely unloaded, the pallets l3 in the stowing rack 45 may either be secured in said rack for transportation therein or the tailgate may be elevated to a suitable level and the empty pallets slid back by the operators into abutting positions within the vehicle body. In either event, the tailgate I2 is closed in the manner already described to put the vehicle in condition for moving to its next transportation job.

From the foregoing description it should be understood that the level of the tailgate is very easily varied, simply by operating the motor which actuates the cable IE to facilitate either the shifting of empty pallets between the truck body II and the stowing rack 45, or the shifting of loaded pallets I3 between their positions within the vehicle body II and upon the tailgate 12, or to facilitate stripping the pallets from beneath their load units.

It should be obvious that the mechanically operated abutment bar 25 provides very convenient and effective abutment means enabling a loaded pallet to be stripped from a load unit thereon in order that the pallet may remain with the vehicle of which it is a part, while the load unit remains in condition for convenient handling by the receivers equipment.

It should be apparent, also, that the stowing rack 45, in conjunction with the elevatable tailgate IZ provides very convenient means for stowing empty pallets during the movement of other pallets in loading or unloading operations.

It is noteworthy, also, that the novel means for opening and closing the tailgate is very effective 10 for it has been found that a tailgate as described herein may be opened and closed in less time than tailgates operated by apparatus of the character heretofore employed.

From the foregoing description of the structure and operation of a preferred embodiment of this invention it should be understood that the tailgate operating mechanism, the pallet-stowing rack, the abutment bar and its operating mechanism, and the mechanism for horizontally moving pallets into and from within the vehicle body and for stripping the pallet from beneath a load unit, all work together to very materially reduce the labor required to load "and unload a vehicle, and hence involve very substantial savings in labor costs. In addition, it should be understood that with apparatus as hereinbefore described, there is no necessity for any shippers skids to accompany a shipment, as has heretofore been done. Therefore, by the use of this invention one may avoid the necessity of keeping records of skids so shipped and of incurring reshipment costs in getting those skids back to their owners. This obviously involves further savings, most of which may be attributed to the presently disclosed invention.

It should be obvious that the present inventive concept may be employed in various ways other than those disclosed and described in the foregoing specification, and therefore the present in vention is not to be limited except as indicated body having a bottom, a tailgate connected to the rear end of said body, a plurality of substantially flat, separately and independently horizontallymovable floor elements of relatively thin material adapted to be supported by said bottom in a series extending longitudinally of said body, shifting means for horizontally moving said floor elements separately, longitudinally of said body from said tailgate onto said bottom and vice versa, an elongate abutment barv carried by said body at the latters rear end and movable from an inactive position clear of the path of such movement of said floor elements and loads thereon to an active position wherein said bar extends horizontally transversely of and above the said path of movement of said floor elements but in the path of movement of such a load on a floor element, and mechanical means for moving said abutment bar from its said inactive to its said active position; the said shifting means being adapted to pull a said floor element from said tailgate, horizontally toward the forward end of said body while said abutment bar prevents such forward movement of a load on the latter floor element.

2; Load handling means according to claim 1, further characterized in that the said tailgate is vertically movable to enable its adjustment to different levels suitable for receiving such floor elements moving horizontally from the vehicle body, and for discharging such iioor elements moving horizontally from said tailgate onto the bottom of said vehicle.

3. Load handling means according to claim 1, further characterized in that the said shifting means comprise a powered cable adapted to extend from forwardly of said abutment bar, thence underneath the latter when in its said active position andito be connected to a said floor element on saidtailgate to pull said element forwardly, from beneath a load thereon, along a path ex- 4. In a vehicle; abutment apparatuscompris ing a horizontal elongate'abutment bar extending transversely of the vehicle toward'the rear end thereof, opposed guideways extending sub: stantially angularly to horizontal in vertical 1ongitudinal planes'in fixed relation to said vehicle at opposite sides thereof-zand coacting with opposite ends of said bar to guide the latter between a lower position and a raised position and to restrict said bar against material'horizontal movement, mechanical actuating means for moving said bar between its two mentioned positions, and means, independent of said actuating means, for holding said bar in its mentioned raised position; the said actuating means comprising an elongate rack in abutment at its upper end with an undersurface'of said bar and substantially restricted to movement longitudinally of itself in substantial parallelism with respect to said guideways, a powersource and transmission means between the said power source and said rack for actuatingthe latter to raise and lower said bar, the said rack, when said holding means are efiective for holding the abutment bar in its raised position, being independently movable downwardly to provide a clear area underneathsubstantially the entire length of said bar. 1

1 5. In a vehicle; abutment apparatus according to claim 4, further characterized in including brake means coacting continuouslywith said actuating means for restraining. said rack and abutment bar against material downward movement. i

6. A vehicle comprising a bottom, a lurality of separately-horizontally-movable floor plates carried in transit upon said bottom, a vertically movable tailgate, actuating ,means for moving said floor plates separately and horizontally between said tailgateand said bottom, and floor plate stowing means on the underside of said tailgate for stowing one or more floor plates while another floor platefis bein so moved by said actuating means; the said stowing mean being vertically movable with the [tailgate to be brought to a level atwhich a floor plate or plates in the vehicle may be shifted horizontally into stowine' relationship with said stowing means or vice versa.

7. A vehicle comprising a body, a passageway through which material may pass into and out of said body, a plurality of pallets each horizontally movable separately in opposite directions through the passageway, a vertically movable tailgate carried by the body exteriorly of the latter and adjacent said passageway, and pallet stowing means carried'by said tailgate and movable vertically therewith to and from a position 12 at which such pallets may be moved horizontallyfrom said body through said'passageway to sa'id stowing means and vice versa, further characterized in that the said stowing means comprises plural shelves rigidly fixed to said tailgate and extending substantially parallel to the line of movement of pallets through said passageway, the said shelves having means at their outer ends for limiting outward movement of pallets on said shelves and being normally clear of obstructions at their ends nearest to the vehicle body whereby to permit free movement of pallets in either direction between the vehicle body and said shelves.

8. A vehicle according to claim 7, further characterized inthat the said tailgate is angularly movable between a horizontal position for receiving pallets from the vehicle body and a position angular to horizontal, the said shelves having manually-adjustable retaining means associated therewith at their inner ends for holding pallets against dislodgement from said shelves when the latter are in the said angular position.

9. A vehicle comprising a, body, an elongate and vertically extending shoe, vertically movable relatively to said body, a tailgate pivoted at its inner end to said shoe, collapsible tailgate supporting means connected to said tailgate, at a point removed from said inner end thereof, and to said shoe at a point above the point thereon at which said tailgate is pivoted thereto, and tailgate pivoting means comprising an elongated substantially non-extensible hanger connected at its upper end to said body substantially .directly over the pivot connection of the tailgate to the shoe, and having means at its'lower end for.

connection to the tailgate outwardly of said pivot connection, whereby when the said shoe isin a substantially elevated position with the tailgate held in horizontal attitude by its said collapsible supporting means, the lower end of said hanger may be connected to said tailgate, and when said shoe is thereafter lowered, the said hanger may limit the downward movement of the tailgate in its horizontal attitude and, with continued downward movement of the tailgate at its pivoted end, may angularly move said tailgate toward a vertical position.

GEORGE H. PRlDE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

